Posted by Jay Bertolet on April 01, 2002 at 09:38:38:
In Reply to: Re: Re: Willson 3400 Eb posted by Michael Grant on April 01, 2002 at 07:46:14:
Hey Mike, I'm glad to hear that you like your Willson so much! I feel pretty much the same about mine (as I posted). With the upper A and Bb it is a judgement call on fingerings. My approach to playing is to not lip notes around, if I can avoid it at all. What is interesting about those notes is that sometimes I don't have to use the alternates. I know those notes are sharp but it isn't that much sharp because sometimes the standard fingerings work just fine in context. For those times when they do sound decidedly sharp, I use 2-4 for A and 4 for Bb. At first I thought this was a horrible situation but my Rudy 4/4 has taught me well how to incorporate odd fingerings into my technique. For me, the trick is knowing when those fingerings will be required. I guess all those years in music theory courses back in college are finally paying off! ;-)
By the way, I'm REALLY surprised to hear about your troubles with the valves. It doesn't surprise me at all that Willson is standing behind their product because Ed Stevens and I have had a conversation about this before and he convinced me that they have the right attitude regarding customer satisfaction. What does surprise me is that your Willson's valves are giving you problems. I absolutely despise piston valves, nearly every set I've ever owned has given me problems of one sort or another. All except the Willson. My Willson is the first piston instrument I've ever played on where the valves really felt great and performed CONSISTENTLY that way. As much as I love the way my Nirschl plays, the valves are very inconsistent for me. When they are good, they are amazing. When they aren't good, they are really a problem. But the Willson valves seem to be amazingly consistent in how they work and how much maintenance they require. Just goes to show you how different even horns of the same model can be.
Good luck with your valves and the alternate fingerings!
My opinion for what it's worth...